Devon Regt

[The Guardroom]

Seeking help on Gt Grandfather:

Little is known about my Gt Grandfather and his WW1 service, except that on a local church war memeorial, it has his name listed under Home Service.

It is not known if he did ever go overseas, but no medals seem to ever have been heard of and family history past down, was that he did his service in the UK and as a kind of labourer ?

His trade as a woods man and tree feller / Estate Groundsman.

The war memorial states he was in the Devon Regt and as it says on home service, I take this as he never went abroad.

No records seem to exist at Kew and not sure of any MIC as he may never have been entitled ?

Any Devon Regt experts able to advise what Bn's were UK based permantently and what their role was.

Gt Grandfather was Pte Charles Sheppard.

Many thanks,

Alan

[sandymae]

Alan,

This maybe your Gt Grandfather:

Sandra

[Blackblue]

Hi Alan,

Have a look here at the sister site. The Devonshire Regt had a number of home service Battalions including Training/Reserve, Works, Labour and Garrison Battalions. My great uncle was briefly posted to the 13th (Works) Battalion based at Plymouth.

http://www.1914-1918.net/devons.htm

Rgds

Tim

[Jim Strawbridge]

Do you know where he lived when he enlisted? Devon or somewhere else?

[The Guardroom]

Thanks all.

Sandra, that could be a good match and good possibility if he went overseas, due to medal entitlement.

Jim, Charles was born and living in Alderbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire during the time of WW1. I would take a guess he was conscripted, due to his age at 41 in 1916. He was fit and able as a forest foreman at the local estate in Alderbury, so could wel have gone into the Labour Corps later, as more like the work he was used to.

The Church memorial could be wrong, as sometimes they are, that he nly served at home ?

[Ivor Lee]

Alan

The Labour Corps number suggests a transfer to the Corps around December 1918 and to a UK based company.

So it looks as if the Devon service was overseas

Ivor

[The Guardroom]

Thanks Ivor. It could be a possibility that Charles did serve overseas, but as the memorial states home service I would think that he was in one of the home service Bns of the Devons.

Over sections of the memorial cover At Rest (Died) and a large section on service overseas, listing men that served and lived from the village.

If Charles had gone overseas, I would have expected him to be added here under this section then , if he had an MIC.

Have attached photos of the memorial to show how he is listed, along with some others who are listed under home service.

[Ivor Lee]

Alan

Many thanks for the photographs.

Not sure if this is confusing the issue but I cannot find any reference to CSM Hyman in the CWGC records and when I checked the Medal Roll found he had served overseas in the MGC. So it looks as if the On Home Service may include men who had served overseas.

Ivor

[Ivor Lee]

Alan

Your request is intriguing me - so I tried checking a few more of the names shown under On Home Service on the CWGC web site.

I tried about five names and cannot find any of them in the CWGC records - of course they could have died after release from the Army and so not recorded by the CWGC but all five seems strange.

Could it be the plaque is a record of where a man finished his service (Overseas or At Home)?

Ivor

[The Guardroom]

Hi Ivor,

As Charles survived the war, I think the names under home service are those that lived to tell the tale, just like the ones under overseas service.

I believe the died are the ones recorded under the central columns under at rest of the first photo.

[Ivor Lee]

Alan

Many thanks for clearing that up.

In that case it looks as if On Home Service does contain men who served overseas as several of them have medal roll entries.

So I do wonder whether the Medal Card Sandra found is your Charles Sheppard?

Ivor

[The Guardroom]

Again thanks for the checking Ivor.

That makes my search even more interesting then if he did serve overseas and the MIC could be right.

Does the X on the MIC mean that the details on the medals would be that of the Labour Corps rather than the Devons ?

Don't know if you can tell me aswell if the SWB rolls have a date of issue of the badge. This would help with some dates. I would think Charles was a 1916 conscript rather than anything earlier.

Thanks,

Alan

[Ivor Lee]

Alan

Medals would be to Devons - the first regiment he served in.

ivor

[Graham Stewart]

Just thought I'd add a little bit to this one - the MIC shows that the number '201660' belonged to the 4th Bn, Devonshire Regt(TF), a Territorial Battalion and as it's the only Devons number on the card then it's a 1917 issue.

The number 201660 was part of a block of numbers(200001-240000) that were issued to both Home & Imperial service personnel of that particular Devons battalion.